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Tuesday, January 27, 2015

A Full Monte

Recently I have turned my attention to autographs, I
like the idea of having a favorite player’s autograph on a card. The problem
with autographs is that you have to trust that the signature is actually the
person’s true signature. Too often there have been questionable signatures even
on “Authentic” packed out and graded/authenticated cards so as a buyer it is
always best to do homework and it helps to find a trustworthy seller.

While I would prefer to have autograph cards that come
from one of the major card companies but not all personalities sign for these
companies or the card design may not be something that I like, the Topps 75th
Anniversary autographs are a perfect example of disappointing designs. In this
case I hunt out TTM or IP signatures and I have found a couple of sellers that
have a nice selection of autographs for a reasonable price as well as having a
solid feedback/history. I still check every autograph against other true
signatures before I buy but I have added a couple of athletes that would
normally be outside of my price range.

I
am pretty excited to add this 2004 Topps Archives Fan Favorite Monte
Irvin autograph from his time with the New York Giants. One mini collection that I
am slowly building is autographs of Negro League players and Monte Irvin spent
9 years with the Newark Eagles, missing 3 seasons while serving in WWII. He later
played 8 more seasons with the New York Giants and Chicago Cubs. He won a Negro
League World Series Championship and another title with the Giants in 1954.

Irvin is still alive, 95-years old, and he has been a
prevalent signer so his autographs are rather reasonably priced. He has a
beautiful signature with a very unique “M” and “I” that stands out nicely.

1 comment:

About Me

I started collecting as a kid but by the time I hit my teens my interests were elsewhere. I returned to the hobby in 1992, just in time to see the junk wax era go in to full swing. My collecting interests have changed over the past 25 years and I prefer to focus on just a couple of players.

My collection is very specific now because I want to keep it controlled and organized, I now focus mainly on my Ken Griffey Jr. & Jay Buhner collections.